Here’s the announcement from HGTV regarding the winner of the HGTV Urban Oasis sweepstakes, which includes a newly renovated home in West Asheville (on Russell Avenue), as well as $50,000 in cash and a new car:

Congratulations to Crystal Harriman of Poulsbo, Washington!

The day before her 32nd birthday, Crystal received the phone call that she’d be celebrating in style as the lucky winner of the HGTV Urban Oasis® 2015 Giveaway, a grand prize package valued at over $500,000.

Crystal’s name was randomly drawn from more than 43 million entries. “When I got the call and heard the words ‘HGTV Urban Oasis’ on the other end, my ears went numb; I was in disbelief,” she says.

The HGTV enthusiast admits to entering online twice daily and touring every room. “I love the kitchen, the backsplash and the island,” says Crystal. “Everything is gorgeous!”

Crystal, who works as a dental assistant at the Naval Hospital Bremerton, can’t wait to visit Asheville and see the home for the first time. She and her family will tour HGTV Urban Oasis 2015 with the interior designer, Brian Patrick Flynn, later this month.

“I’ve been entering all the HGTV home giveaways since 2010,” Crystal shares. “Now my family is convinced they should enter too.” Still shocked from her stroke of good fortune, Crystal looks forward to sharing the prize with her family. Check back in December for more pictures of our lucky winner at HGTV Urban Oasis 2015.

The Asheville nonprofit Food Connection is partnering with Wicked Weed Brewing and its Cultura restaurant, the YMCA of Western North Carolina, and Red Wing Enterprises for the event aimed at helping service industry workers.

One of the biggest immediate impacts has been the release of about 200 people from the Buncombe County jail, a long-sought after goal by some local officials who want to convert the county jail from a holding pen for low-level, nonviolent, poor suspects to a lockup reserved for serious offenders.

8 Comments

The local-centric whining about this issue is ridiculous. It was a national contest with 43 MILLION entries … the chance that it would be won by a family that actually wanted to move to Asheville and live in the house was always vanishingly small.

The only people who really have any right to be upset about this situation are the folks whose home design and construction have been delayed for over a year while their builder has been obsessing over his time in the HGTV limelight.

Epic fail. The house is incredibly overpriced but what’s more disappointing is that this contest didn’t eliminate people like this woman who compulsively registered to win this house having never even been to asheville, having more people in her household than this house accommodates, and not even knowing if she is going to move in. It’s ironic that we have all of these affordable housing crises in town but this house may just sit vacant. HGTV needs to step up their criteria game.

It’s a contest giving away a house and 100K and a new car. It’s free to enter. OF COURSE people enter, if they care about the house or not. Sell i for 1/3 the price and they still have 200K (at least) free money after taxes. What’s the uproar about???? Someone will buy it and live in it. It won’t sit vacant.

Interesting how HGTV whitewashed the story a little. The Citizen-Times reported in their article about this that:

“Harriman, who had never heard of Asheville until she read about the contest, will travel here sometime in November, HGTV officials confirmed, although the exact date of her trip is undetermined.

The family is traveling to Asheville soon, and Harriman said they’ll try to decide whether to occupy, rent or sell the house. “We are not sure. We haven’t decided,” she said. “We’re just really excited to come down and see Asheville and walk through the house.”

So they aggressively entered a contest for a house that is too small for them and they may not actually live in it, may just sell it, and never heard of Asheville before they entered? Wish someone had won it who actually had a vested interest in being in Asheville.